Weeding Garlic: Why It Matters

Weeding the garlic

Weeding Garlic: Why It Matters & How We Do It at Garlic Gods 🧄

Weed control is one of the most underestimated—but most critical—aspects of growing garlic. Left unchecked, weeds can quickly overtake your garden and compete with your garlic for vital resources like water, sunlight, and nutrients. And since garlic stays in the ground for up to nine months, it’s exposed to cool-season and warm-season weeds, making consistent weeding a must.

Whether you’re a backyard gardener or a commercial grower, understanding when and how to weed your garlic beds can make all the difference in bulb size, health, and yield.

Why Weed Control Is So Important for Garlic

Garlic is a slow-growing crop that doesn't compete well with aggressive weeds. If weeds are allowed to take over, they’ll rob garlic of what it needs most:

• Sunlight: Tall weeds can create a canopy, shading your garlic plants and slowing photosynthesis.

• Water & Nutrients: Weed roots compete with garlic roots, often more aggressively.

• Airflow: Dense weed growth reduces airflow, increasing the risk of disease and rot—especially as garlic bulbs mature.

• Bulb Size: bulb development happens in the last 3-4 weeks prior to harvest, large roots of weeds could prevent the garlic from expanding and growing into a large bulb.

  
  

Weeds also make it harder to see your garlic rows, increasing the chance of accidentally damaging bulbs when cultivating or harvesting.

Adding straw mulch to garden in the fall

Mulching for Weed Suppression

One of the best ways to reduce weeding is by mulching after planting. A 2–6 inch layer of seed free straw, shredded leaves, or grass clippings can:

• Block sunlight from reaching weed seeds

• Stabilize soil temperature during winter

• Retain soil moisture

• Add organic matter over time

🧄However, be cautious: as garlic bulbs begin to swell in spring, mulch can trap too much moisture. If you're in a wet or humid climate, it’s a good idea to pull thick mulch away from the base of the plants in late spring to avoid rot.

Smart Weeding Strategies

Even with mulch, some weeding will be necessary—especially between rows or along garden paths. Here are a few strategies that work well for home gardeners:

• Hoe regularly: Light hoeing as needed to keep small weeds from becoming a bigger problem.

• Weed after rain: Damp soil makes it easier to remove entire weed roots.

• Use path mulch: Add grass clippings, straw, or wood chips between rows and walking paths to suppress weed growth and enrich the soil over time.

The key is staying consistent—waiting too long allows weeds to mature, spread seeds, and become much harder to manage.

How We Weed Garlic at Garlic Gods

At Garlic Gods, we grow thousands pounds of garlic on our Idaho farm—and we know firsthand just how time-consuming weed control can be.

In fact, it’s the most labor-intensive task of our entire growing season.

While garlic can technically grow with weeds, we’ve found that bulb size is significantly reduced when garlic has to compete for space and resources. That’s why we invest serious time and effort to keep our fields clean and healthy.

Weed Control Upgrade 🚜

In 2024, we upgraded to a full tractor setup with a Tilmor pull-behind finger weeder and tine implement—made right here in the USA. This tool allows us to:

• Cultivate tiny weeds early before they become a problem

• Cover more ground efficiently

• Reduce hand-weeding while maintaining healthy soil structure

Of course, we still spend many hours hand-weeding where needed—but this implement has become a game changer in our garlic-growing process.

Need Garlic for Fall Planting?

All of our premium hardneck and softneck garlic varieties are now in stock and available for pre-order at GarlicGods.com. Orders begin shipping in September, just in time for fall planting.